Who will leave the Patriots first: Tom Brady or Bill Belichick?
It’s tough to gauge what Brady and Belichick's relationship is now.
No matter what happens over the next years with Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and the greatest and most prolonged dynasty in NFL history, no matter when they stop adding to their unparalleled achievements, go their separate ways, and transition from the present to the past tense, there is this comfort to be found:
The dynasty will survive forever, even after it ends.
Their place in history is etched in granite and long past secure. There is still an opportunity, even as Tom Brady heads toward his age-41 season, to add to his mutual legacy with Belichick, which currently includes 15 AFC East titles, 14 seasons of 11 or more wins (no Patriots team had won more than 11 before they arrived), 12 AFC title game appearances, 8 trips to the Super Bowl, and 5 Super Bowl victories. They’ve accomplished more in 18 seasons together than most franchises have in their entire existence.
Maybe that reminder that the dynasty is still fully activated isn’t necessary. But too often I wonder if it is. I hear more lamenting about how Belichick’s decision to trade Jimmy Garoppolo for a second-round pick (an inexplicable decision given the limited return) than I do any appreciation for where the franchise still stands nearly two decades into the dynasty.
I suppose that’s a very Boston thing to do, to find something to gripe during a period of success that is the envy of every football fan outside our corner of the county. We are the city that didn’t laugh in collective “are you kidding me?’’ hysterics when a local sportscaster warned we should be careful what we wish for after the Red Sox provided cathartic joy for generations in winning the 2004 World Series.
This uncommonly chaotic Patriots offseason, in which Brady and teammates with lesser clout seemed to passive-aggressively question Belichick’s tactics, lent itself to negative thinking and a whole lot of parsing about what exactly is going on here. That mindset pretty much began the moment Malcolm Butler headed down the tunnel and toward the locker room, his jersey still as crisp and white as when he put it on, in the weird aftermath of the Super Bowl loss to the Eagles.
It’s tough to gauge what Belichick and Brady’s relationship is now, though I figure anyone who has been attached to another person for 20 or so years is going to have their moments when they’re sick of the other’s stupid face. Belichick hasn’t said anything about it publicly, though apparently President Trump has chatted with him about it. If Belichick did say something, it would probably be some variation of, “It is what it is.’’
Brady’s perspective is more compelling, because he’s let us in on what it is to some degree. He spilled some unexpected weariness and candor in the final episode of Tom vs. Time, with his wife Gisele saying he would like to be more appreciated and have more fun at work.
Not a syllable of any of that was an accident. That came during the hangover of the Super Bowl loss to the Eagles. Brady seemed to be in a better place last week during an interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Santa Monica, Calif.
“We’ve had a great relationship, a very respectful relationship for a long time,’’ said Brady. “He has a management style [with] players, and he would say, ‘Look, I’m not the easiest coach to play for.’ I agree. He’s not the easiest coach to play for. But he’s the best for me.’’
It appears as though he’s found the optimism that he had before Super Bowl LII, when he said he wanted two more Super Bowls and Gisele said, “He can have as many Super Bowls as he likes.’’
Maybe the plan isn’t to play to 45 anymore. Maybe it’s 43, or 44. What we know is that the endpoint to the dynasty is near, based not on the possibility of a collapse, but on Brady’s age. Barring catastrophe, that is what will end this.
Even when you consciously try to remember to appreciate how tall they still stand in the NFL, resisting the parlor game of who will be around longer is impossible. Only Brady and Belichick have a true inkling of when their final scenes with the Patriots might come.
My hunch is that Belichick is here longer than Brady, if for no other reason is that Brady’s age will dictate the end at some point in the next few years. Of course, I’m saying this about a 40-year-old quarterback who threw for 503 yards in the Super Bowl and won the league MVP award. He’s not ageless, but he does seem to have an oft-used membership at the fountain of youth.
Belichick is 66, the second-oldest coach in the league to – this shocked me – 67-year-old Pete Carroll. Marv Levy, at 72, was the oldest coach in league history, and Belichick said years ago he doesn’t intend to coach as long as the former Bills boss. Now that he’s closer to Levy’s age, I wonder if that plan has changed.
I suppose his successor is already here among one of his three sons – Steven Belichick, Brian Belichick, and Josh McDaniels. His actual offspring are both young and inexperienced, many seasons from being head coach material. I’ve long thought McDaniels was lined up to be the true successor, and that was only enhanced by his decision to renege on the chance to be HC of the IC and stick around with the Patriots.
But it sure doesn’t seem like that’s imminent. Belichick, as usual, is building the team for the short and long term at once rather than loading up for one last hurrah. And the game is so ingrained in who he is, and has been since he was breaking down film as a kid for his dad, that he doesn’t seem a candidate for burnout. He is what he is.
Wondering which of Brady and Belichick will stick around longer in Foxborough should not get in the way of appreciating what they’ve done. It should only enhance it, it’s not going to last forever and a day. As it is, 18 years is an NFL eternity. It’s not a race to the finish line. It’s a reminder to appreciate the breathtaking journey along the way.
Besides, no matter how long Brady and Belichick remain with the Patriots – and in the league as a whole, for that matter – there is only one certainty.
Adam Vinatieri is going to outlast them all.
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